Island



C. B. MAXSON FEEDING AND CUTTING MECHANISM Filed August 22; 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 lia/nier Charles Bjfaxsofy BYM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 have ntor w Chweslaxsan Httomey Jan, 4 1927.

C. B. MAXSON FEEDING' AND CUTTING MECHNISM Filed Augxst 22, 1924 Patented Jan. 4, 1927.

Miti'i'l- SLTATS rialsz earner ersten,

CHARLESv BENJAMIN MAKSON, OF VSTERLY, RHODE ISLAND', ASSIGNOR OF Olkllik HALLEv 'I'.O- JULIAN W. MAXSUN, OF W'ESTERLY, RHODE ISLAND.

FEEDING AND CUTTING MECHANISM,

Original application filed September 2 5. 19231, Serial No. 644,775. Divided and this application iiled August 22, 1924,.

rl`he present invention relates to feeding and cutting mechanisms, and its chief aim is to provide an improved mechanism for intermittently feeding and cutting objects like paper. Other purposes of the invention will appear hereinafter.

rihe invention wil-l be fully explained in connection Vith the accompanying d awings, in which Fig. l is plan of a mechanism constructed according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2' is a side elevati-on of the same;` Fig. 3 a section taken upon the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the mechanism shown in Figs. 1 and 21; Fig. 5 is a fragmentary diagrammatic view illustrating one application of the invention; and Fig. (i is a view of a detail.

The present invention is illustrated in the accon'ipanying drawings in connection with a machine for feeding and delivering paper sheets, and for marking or separating the sheets so delivered into bundles or reams,

r each containing a predetermii'ied number of the sheets. The said machine constitu-tes the subfect matteiof a copending application, Serial No, 664,775, filed September 25,1923, of which the present application is a division. rlflie sheets are fed by tapes 18 and 20 into, a lay-boy 4, which is automatically lowered from time to time to maintain approximately uniform the level of the sheets that are stacked therein. As they are delivered into the lay-boy 4, the sheets are automatically counted; and thin, paper tags 24 are automatically inserted between adjacent, predetermined sheets at the completion of each count to separate or mark the bitindles or reams of sheets so delivered and counted. The tags 24 are automatically out ofi' from a paper strip 34 that is intermittely nnwou; "l from a reel The present invention is more particularly concerned with the mecl'ianisni for feeding and cutting the paper strip 34.

Feed rolls 26 and 27 automatically advance intermittently, through a curved guide 28, and between a movable knife 30 and a stationary knife 32, the paper strip 34 as it is unwound from the reel The end 3&5 of the paper strip is thus intermittei'itly advanced. at lthe proper time, and becomes inserted between adjacent sheets 104 and 106, Fig. 5, of the stack and, after it is Severed Serial No. 733,538..

by the knives 30 and 32, constitutes a tag 24. end of a bell-crank lever 40, intermediately pivoted at 41, and the other end of which is spring pressed at 42 to cause thefeed roll 26 to maintain the paper strip. tightly in engagement with the feed roll 27. rEhe feed rolls 2G and 27 are provided with meshing gears, as shown. rilo advance the strip 34, therefore, it is necessary to rotate intermittently the feed roll 2t? only', the feed roll 27 being positively driven by its gear from the .feed roll 26', and the two rolls positively pulling the strip through between them.

The feed rolls 2G and 27 are situated at the rear end of the guide 2S, at a point justto the rear of and `inst below the upper sheets of the sta-ck of sheets in the lay-boy, and the knife 32 is situated at the other end. A shaft 44, situated to the rear of the guide 28, is provided with a gear 126, keyed thereto at 220, which drives the feed' rolls 26 and 2,-7 through a train of gearing 128. The train of gearing 128 makes it possible to position the feed rolls 26 and 27 properly, at a distance from their driving shaft 44. By feeding the strip at a point so close to the stack, there is no tendency for the strip to buckle or sag in the guide 28. This obviates danger of the strip getting stuck in the guide, which would prevent the strip from being advanced at all. A lever 3l, pivoted at 33, by its own weight presses the strip 34 against a seat 35 in the bell-crank lever, just to the rear of the feed rolls 26 and 27, the better to guide the strip. The shaft 44 maybe intermittently rotated by a continuously rotating pawl l(not shown) as is described in the above-mentioned application, or in any other desired manner. at the end of a cycle of operation of a counter (not shown) fesay, after a. ream has been delivered and counted. r'lfhe end 3.8. of the strip 34 thereupon rapidly fed from the rear of the stack, in a direction at a substantial angle to the horizontal direction of feed of the sheets, shown nearly1 vertical in Fig. 2, into the path of feed of the next tollowing sheet, which constitutes the first sheet 10G of the next ream. 1f the end 88 of the strip were fed horizontally forward, or at an angle not suiiiciently far from the horizontal, being constituted of thin paper, it might strike the rear of the stack of sheets, and not enter between adjacent sheets at all,'thus falling rlie feed roll 26 is mounted upon an to 'flux door and failing; to nu: ilu` scpzu'atlug line between the reauis. Ylf fed at an angle so near to the horizontal, furthermore, the tags, if it is succeeded in getting them inserted between the sheets, are frequently carried by the sheet 106 so far in between the Sheet 10ft and the sheet 106 that it lost to view, and its function as a marker becomes lost. lt is therefore desirable to feed the end 3S of the strip at a substantial enough angle to the direction of feed, so as vtime accurately the moment when the end of the strip is fed upward, as would be the case if it were fed horizontally, or nearly so, which timing it is necessary to adjust for sheets of different length. In order to insure feeding' the strip at such an intermediate portion of the guide is curved, as shown, so as to rise nearly vertically, as illustrated in Fig. 2 a 29. The end 38 of the sheet is fed upward for a distance sufficiently great so as to make sure that it will rise above the top sheets of the stack and into the path of travel of the sheet 10G, v

.Vhen the end 3S has thus been laid flut by the sheet 106 upon the sheet 104. it is still too early to sever it from the strip as the severing process might pull it out of place. 1t is preferable to wait until a number of sheets have been fed forward over the sheet 106; their combined we' l then serving to hold the end C18 of the strip in place while it is severed. This feature of the operation is not illustrated or furtherdescribed herein, because unnecessary to an understanding of the present invention. A full disclosure will be found in the above-identified application.

The mechanism for operating the knife 30 will now. be desc iibed.V The knife 30 is adapted to be reeiprocated in a vertical plane in guides 108, to cooperate with the stationaryiknife 32, by a lever 110, one end of which is pivo-ted at 114 and to the other end of which the knife is connected at 112. An Vintermediate portion 116 of the lever 110 is adapted Vto beengaged by a rotary cam 11S. At a in'edetermined point in the operation of the shaft 44, the lever 110 is actuated by the cam 118` in opposition to the force exerted by a spring 120, to move the knife 30 upward, as seen in Figs. 2 and 4, causing the end 38 to become severed from'the strip 34. 1t will be noted, from Figs. 1 and 4, that the knives Si() and 32 are inclined to each other in two planes, so as to provide a very effective, shearing' cut and a spring-pressed plunger yieldingly maintains the movable knife 30 biased towards the knife 32, so as to be in the most suitable position for effecting such cut. The roll cam 118 is mounted upon a shaft 123 having a gear 124- among the saine train of gearing 128 that drives the feed rolls 26 and 27 from the shaft 411. rlhe knife is thus operated in timed relation to the operation of the feed rolls aid 27 by the' shaft alle, which .first operates through nearly a complete revolution to cause the feed rolls to feed the strip 311-, and then remains stat iouary until the desired number of sheets have been fed over the ,sheet 10G, and which finally operates through the remainder of its revolution to cause the roll cani 118 to engage the lever 110, thereby causing,` the knife to sever the end B8 from the strip 311. The knife is returned to normal position before the shaft 44 comes to rest. The cani roll 118 is adjustable to adjust the time of operation of the knife 30.

Upon the retreat of the movable knife 30, the new end 38 of the strip 34 is left under the stationary knife 32. Owing to the substantially vertical direction of feeding movement of the end 38 of the strip, there would be a tendency for the strip to strike against the knife and prevent further advance of the end of the strip.l at the next feed movenent of the feed rolls 26 and 2T.

ent this happening, a lever 37 is adapted to pivot, by its own weight, about a pivotal point 39. so as to enter between the two knives 30 and 32, thereby engaging'` the end 38 of the strip and pushing it forward, beyond and between the knives. The next forward feed movement of the feed rolls 26 and 27 will therefore result in advancingr the end 38 of the strip in a nearly .vertical direc tion, as before described, and asillustrated more particularly in Fia. 2, to one side of the cutter 82. Though the cutter 32 is thus situated in the vertical path of feed, it does not interfere with the feedingI because of the deflectinp; action of the lever 3'?. The lever 37 is forced out of the wa?,7 of the movable knife 30, at each upward movement of the same, in any desired manner, as by means of a cam (not shown, but illustrated and described in tbe above-named application) upon the inner face of the knife BO that is adapted to engage the lever 87 when the knife is moved upward, and that is adapted to become disengaged from the lever 37 on the downward movement of the knife. The

use of the said cani is` in practice, found to be unnecessary, as the knife 30 may force the lever 37 out of the way by direct engagement with its proiecting' portion. If the lever 3'? is constituted of soft metal. like lead,

it will not dull or otherwise injure the knife.

The return gravity movement of the lever is limited by an integral projection 53 that is adapted to engage the rear of the knife 32.

The end 38 of the strip is thus automatically advanced into` position in a direction nearly atright angles to the direction of feed of the sheets so that it may be struck by the first sheet 106 ot each new ream and laid flat thereby between adjacent sheets 104 and 106 of adjacent reains, and it is then severed from the strip 34, the tag 24 being thus left in place to mark the boundary between the two reams.

it is desirable that the feed rolls 2G and 27 be ineffective to feed the strip 34 during the cutting,` operation of the knife, as. further feeding,` of the strip 84 would cause it to buckle. The feed roll 26 is therefore provided with a flattened port-ion 43, shown more particularly in Fig. S. During the operation of the cam 11S. the flattened portion of the 'toed roll 26 occupies a position opposed to the lower portion of the feed roll 27. The flat portion 43 is maintained out of engagement with the feed roll 27 by the gears of the feed rolls 26 and 2'? acting on one side, and a corresponding collar-like segment G1 integrally provided at the opposite side of the feed roll 26, and which cnfgages the teed roll 2T under the influence of the spring 42. The iliattened portion 43, in tact. is produced by cutting` aw j a portion ot the cylindrical surface of the feed roll 26 between the collar-like segment and its oppositely disposed gear. Further feeding; of the strip 34 is at this time, therefore. rendered impossible.` To render the feed rolls 26 and 27 ineffective at all times, the bell-crank lever may be engaged by la stop 47 of a member 45. thereby overcoming the force of the springe` 42. The niember may be pivotally actuated into and out of engagement with the bell-crank lever 40 about a pivotal point 51. Only when the member 45 is moved about its pivotal point 5l wholly out of the way are the 'feed rolls 2G and 2T elieetive to feed the strip 34.

rllhc marker may be operated from the shaft instead of from the shaft 44. lt may be desirable to operate the shafts 44 and 12XJ secr'iively, the shaft 44 from a 500- shect-reain munter and the shaft from a ei-tl-sheet-ream counter. To operate the marker from the shaftthe key 220. Flog. is removed. so as to render the rear v126 loose upon the shaft and a k.Q'ear 224, that is loaf", when the `ear 126 is keyed to the sha t 4J. is keyed at 222 toY the shaft 1.22 instead. Rotation of the shaft 122, throiiiogh an idler gear 125, will thus drive the feed rolls and 2l through the saine train of gearing; the gear 126 now rotating idly on the shaft 44. The idler gear 125 enables the gears 124 and 126 to drive the feed rolls 26 and 27 in the same direction. The feed rolls 2G and 2T are thus operated to 'feed the strip 34 in the saine n'ianner as before described, except that they are now operated from the shaft 122 instead of from the shatt 44; and the knife-controlling-cam wheel 1.18

still operates to control the knife, as before described.v

it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact embodiment that is herein illustrated and described, and is subject to modification and change by persons skilled in the art. All such modifications and changes are considered to be within the spirit of' the invention, and the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims.

VVha't is claimed is:

1. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a cutter, means permanently situated at a predetermined point for feeding` material in a predetermined direction towards the cutter so as to tend to cause the material to engage the cutter, and means for defiecting' the material from the predetermined direction out of the way of the cutter.

2. A machinr ot' the class described having, in combination, a cutter, means perinanently situated at a predetermined point for feeding a strip in a predetermined direction from the predetermined point towards the cutter so as to tend to cause the strip to engage the cutter. and means for detlectingthe strip from the predetermined direction out ofv the way of the cutter.

S. machine of the class described having,`in combination, a guide, means for feeding material in the guide, a cutter xed to lthe" guide in the path of feed of the material,

and means for deflecting the material out of the way of the cutter.

4. A. machine of the class described havingi'. in combination, a` stationary cutter, a movable cutter, means permanently situated at a in'edetermined point for feedinga strip in a predetermined direction from the predetermined pointtowards the stationary cutter so as to tend to cause the strip to engage the stationary cutter, and means for deiecting the strip from the predetermined direction out of the way of the stationary cutter.

5. A. machine of the class described having. in combination, a curved guide, acutter situated on one side of the curve of the guide, means for feeding" material to the cutter situated on the other side of the curve of the guide, whereby the materialz upon being' fed through the curved guide, is adapted to engage the cutter` and means for deliecting the material out of the way of the cutter. Y

G. A inachine of the class described having. in combination, a curved guide, means for feeding material in the guide., a cutter situated on one side of the curve of the guide lift) in the path of feed, a, ('-ooperatiug cutter, the cutters being relatively movable towards and from each other, and means for deliecting the material. out of the way of the firstnamed cutter and in between the first-named cutter and the cooperating cutter.

7. A machine of the class described having, in combination, means for feeding material. a cutter situated in the path of feed, whereby the feeding means tends to cause the material to engage the cutter, a Cooperating cutter relatively movable towards and from the first-named cutter, means for defleeting the material out of the way of the first-named cutter and in between the firstnamed cutter and the cooperating cutter, and means controlled by one of the cutters for controlling the detlecting means.V

8. A machine of the class described having, in combination, two cooperating cutters, means for` feeding a strip in a direction such as to tend to cause the strip to engage one of the cutters, means for deiecting the strip out of the way of the said one cutter, and means controlled by the other cutter for controlling the deflecting means.

9. A machine of the class described having, in combination, means for feeding material, a cutter situated in the path of feed, a cooperating cutter relatively movable towards and from the first-named cutter, a member'adapted to enter between the two cutters to deflect the material out of the way of the first-named cutter, and means controlled by one of the cutters for moving the member away from between the two cutters.

V10. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a stationary cutter, a movable cutter, means for feeding a strip in a direction such as to tend to cause the strip to engage the stationary cutter, a lever adapted to enter between the two cutters t0 deflect the strip out of the way of the stationary cutter, and means controlled by the movable cutter forl moving the lever away from between the two cutters.

11. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a pivoted lever. a feed roll mounted on the lever, means for driving the feed roll, a cooperating feed roll, means for yieldingly maintaining the feed rolls in engagement, the lever having a guide for the material to be fed, and means for maintaining the material in the guide.

, 12. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a feed roll.l two means each individually adapted to drive the feed roll, a gear connecting the feed roll with one of. the driving means, and a gear connecting the connecting gear with the other drivingl ing, in combination, a curved guide, means situated at one end of the curve of the guide` for feeding material in the cuide, a cutter Leia-isa situated at the other end of the curve of (he guide in the path of feed, a cooperating cutter, the cutters being relatively movable towards and from each other, means for deflecting the material out of the way of the first-named cutter and in between the firstnamed cutter and the cooperating cutter', means for driving the feeding means and relatively actuating the cutters, and a t 'ain of gearing connecting the feeding means pressed portion out of contact with the other Y feed roll.

15. A machine of the class described having in combination, means for feeding material, a cutter situated in the path of feed, whereby the feeding means tends to cause the material to engage the cutter, and means for engaging the material and for moving the engaged material out of the way of the cutter.

16. A machine` of the class described having, in combination, a stationary cutter, a movable cutter', means for feeding a strip in a direction such as to tend to cause the strip to engage the stationary cutter, and means for engaging the strip and for moving the engaged strip out of the way of the stationary cutter.

17. A machine of the class described having, in combination, feed means, a cutter, a

cam for actuating the cutter, means for driving the feed means, a gear for driving the cam, and a train of gearing connecting the feed means with the driving means and comprising the cam driving gear.

18. A machine of the class described having, incombination, means for feeding material, a cutter situated in the path of feed, means for defiecting the material out of the way of the cutter, means for driving the feed means and the cutter, and a train of gearing connecting thc feed means and the cutter with the driving means.

19. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a bell-crank lever, a feed roll mounted upon one arm of the lever, a cooperating feed roll, means yieldingly engaging one side of the other arm of the bell-crank lever to yieldingly maintain the lever in a position such that the feed rolls shall be maintained in yielding engagement, and means for engaging an opposite side of the other arm for rendering the yielding maintaining means ineective.

20. A machine of the class described havier) ing, n combination, two feed rolls for feeding material, means for rotating one of the feed rolls through a portion of a revolution to feed the material and for thereupon maintaining the feed rolls against rotation to prevent further feeding` of the material, and means whereby the Said one feed roll may In testimony whereof, I have hereunto 10 subscribed my name this 31st day of July,

CHARLES B. MAXSON. 

